Published for the clients ofNorthern Security Systems
VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) There are some companies out there trying to provide telephone service over the Internet to compete with Bell Canada.
BE VERY CAREFUL Up until recently, we have had no experience with this product. What we have found is that you must be very careful. In their attempts to entice customers to change to their service, many of these companies fail to tell you the whole story, unless you go looking for it (see the end of this section). So, lets start with the two types of companies out there to deal with. Managed and unmanaged. A managed carrier would be like Rogers. They provide the Internet service and the telephone service (“the black box”), if you have a problem (See “problems with VOIP” below.), they are the company you talk to, to get the problem rectified. With an unmanaged carrier it’s not so simple, once you have their black box and you have a problem, there is a good chance it will be denial, denial, denial, from all parties concerned. The black box company will say it is the ISP problem and the ISP Company will say it is the black box problem. What about the router - who is responsible if it goes down and who will tell you if it is the router? From what we know so far the managed companies seem to be more inclined to make sure that things will run smoothly with their equipment. However, even these companies don’t seem to know if their system will work properly with alarm systems or other non-voice communications equipment, i.e. fax, modem etc. Please see the two websites below.
If you are thinking about converting to one of these systems, call us first to see what impact this may have on your alarm system.
DON’T FORGET
Digital cellular backupis now available to provide additional communication if your telephone line is disconnected or tampered with. Remember if you have one of the analog units (pre July 31, 2006) they will no longer function. Call for more information.
Sympatico High Speed Internet
If you are thinking about Bell Sympatico High Speed Internet, remember you will need a special alarm filter. Make sure and give us a call as Bell will not provide this for you.
Pre-Authorized Debit, Visa or Mastercard
Automatic debit for your monitoring fees, please give us a call. We will send you the required form to move this along for you.
Just a few things to keep in mind:
FIRST, please test your system, once a month is recommended or any time Bell or anyone has worked with your telephone lines. There are many things that can affect an alarm system today - Internet access, Bell's new features, etc. Therefore testing is very important.
SECOND, if you set off your alarm by mistake, it is critical that you confirm with the monitoring station that everything is ok. This will reduce false dispatches and ultimately save you money.
THIRD, if you have a problem with your telephone line, always check to make sure that the problem is not with the alarm system first before calling Bell. This is a simple thing to do, go to your alarm jack and unplug it, if the problem is corrected it is an alarm problem, if it isn't corrected it is not an alarm problem. After that you should check to make sure it isn't other phones, faxes, etc. that could be causing your problem before calling Bell.
FOURTH, please keep your clearance list up to date. Again, this will save false dispatches and save you money as well.
FIFTH, if you are having any work done around the house or office and you have smoke alarms, cover them with a plastic bag while the work is taking place. Also, please make sure the monitoring station is aware. This will save you money in replacement costs, never mind false dispatches.
SIXTH, remember that if you refer us to someone and they purchase a monitored alarm system from us, you will receive a credit of $75.00 on your next monitoring invoice.
For information regarding our privacy notice, please feel free to contact us.
Potential problems with VOIP
Right away we can think of six
If their IP is down you have no phone.
If you have an electrical failure your system may go down, there apparently is a standby battery. Is there supervision to tell you when the battery should be changed? We don't know.
911 - yes you can call it, but in many cases if your call was terminated your 911 operator would not know where you are as they would on a Bell land line.
Digital cellular backup is now available to provide additional communication if your telephone line is disconnected or tampered with. Remember if you have one of the analog units (pre July 31, 2006) they will no longer function. Call for more information.